A popular high school teacher and coach was fired by a Michigan school district after an extremely offensive tweet he made earlier this month.
Justin Kucera, who teaches social studies and is the varsity baseball coach in the Walled Lake school district, expressed his support for Trump’s speech on reopening schools. “I’m done being silent,” he tweeted. “@realDonaldTrump is our president.”
I’m done being silent. @realDonaldTrump is our president ❌🧢
Don’t @ me
— Coach Kucera (@CoachKWLW) July 7, 2020
Kucera told the Washington Free Beacon that after he posted the tweet, the principal of the school and the district superintendent told him to resign or he’d be fired.
“I was required to meet with [human resources], the superintendent, and my principal [on July 10]. They initially took my statement on why I tweeted those tweets and they told me they would have a decision about my future employment in the upcoming days. When they completed the meeting, I was told I had the option to either be fired or resign.” Kucera said.
It is not clear whether Kucera had achieved tenure yet, but the school district likely faces a discrimination lawsuit.
According to Kucera, his tweet was intended to unify, rather than divide. Instead, it cost him his job. Multiple sources told the Free Beacon that Kucera never brought politics into the classroom.
“I know a lot of people are just rooting for Trump to fail, and I don’t think that anybody should do that,” Kucera said. “Agree with him or not, you should want the president to do well. I apologized that [my tweet] brought so much negative attention, but I’m not sorry for what I said.”
The Free Beacon reports that other teachers in the district have expressed political views without retribution, “Paulette Loe, a now-retired Walled Lake Western teacher, encouraged students to read an article from the Atlantic about ‘how to beat Trump’ while still employed. Nicole Estes, a kindergarten teacher in the district, called Trump a ‘sociopath’ and a ‘narcissist’ on Facebook in 2016 and is still employed at Keith Elementary School.”
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Matt Margolis is the author of the new book Airborne: How The Liberal Media Weaponized The Coronavirus Against Donald Trump, and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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